Joist spacer and support



R. E. KENNEDY JOIST SPACER AND SUPPORT Dec. 20, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 5, 1957 INVENTOR.

ROBERT E. KENNEDY Q g Gum ATTORNEYS Dec. 20, 1960 R. E. KENNEDY JOIST SPACER AND SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1957 INVENTOR.

ROBERT E. KENNEDY ATTORNEYS United States Patent JOIST SPACER AND SUPPORT Robert E. Kennedy, 4737 Fischer, Detroit, Mich. Filed July 5, 1957, Ser. No. 670,168

2 Claims. (Cl. 20-9) This invention relates to a joist spacer and support and more particularly to a means for spacing and supporting the parallel joists and studs used for forming .floor and wall panels, respectively, in building construction.

In the construction of buildings, particularly dwelling houses, it is common to form the floor panels of a large number of spaced elongated wood joist members, such as the conventional 3 x 8 wood members, upon which the rough flooring and then the finished flooring are laid. In order to space and support the parallel joists, the carpenters must measure and space them equidistantly, for example, the conventional 16 inch on center distance apart, and then support them and secure them to gether by short pieces of wood nailed to each spaced pair of joists. Generally, an X is formed by using two short pieces of wood whose ends are cut at a 45 angle and are then toenailed into their adjacent joists.

Similarly, stud walls and outer frame walls are formed of spaced wood members, such as the conventional 2 x 4s arranged conventionally on a 16 inch center distance apart and are secured together and supported by short lengths of wood arranged at an angle to the vertical and having angle cut ends which are toenailed to the studs between each pair of studs.

In this conventional construction, a great deal of expensive carpenters time is used to measure the distances between the joists or studs and to arrange them parallel .to one another and normal to the plane of the panel, and ith'en to accurately cut and...angle the ends of the short wood connectors used. Generally, the spacing and the short connector members are highly inaccurate and thus, it is rare to find the wood, joist, or stud members truely parallel. These inaccuracies cause later difliculties in securing the flooring and wall facings and in forming corners. Moreover, a great deal of the strength of the panel is lost.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to form a spacer and connector member pre-formed to the correct dimensions of the wood thickness and spacing between the wood members, whereby a carpenter can quickly slip the joist spacer members over each pair of parallel wood pieces and nail them in place on the wood pieces, thereby eliminating all measuring for spacing, parallelism and angularity relative to the plane of the panel. Likewise, this eliminates all necessity for making and using the conventional short Wood connector members.

Another object of this invention is to form a joist spacer and support out of a pair of thin, flat, elongated, rigid strips, secured together and providing pairs of spaced flanges whereby this member may be slipped over a pair of wood, studs, or joists from one edge thereof with the flanges arranged one on each side of a joist or stud. Thus, all measurements are eliminated and the spacing between the members and the parallelism thereof are accurate and uniform, whereby time is saved, expensive labor costs are substantially reduced, wastage of wood inaccurately cut and thus discarded are all elimir 2,964,807 Patented Dec. 20, 1960 ice nated and the panel is greatly rigidified and strengthened.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of which the attached drawings form a part.

With reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a cross-sectional view through a portion of a dwelling house under construction, and illustrates the floor joists in cross-section and also a portion of a stud wall.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing the joist spacer and supports slipped over a pair of spaced joists.

Fig. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of the spacer.

Fig. 4 is a view of a modified spacer used for angularly connecting the studs of a stud wall.

Fig. 5 is a modified spacer, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of an end of the spacer shown in Fig. 2, but with a modification shown thereon.

In Fig. 1, a fragmentary part of a house, generally designated as 10, is illustrated. This house consists of a stud wall 11 and a joist forming floor 12.

A foundation floor support 13, which may be a slab floor or any other conventional joist supporting means, is illustrated. The joists 14 are set upon the foundation flooring 13 and are spaced apart from one another equidistantly and also are arranged in parallelism. Likewise, the joists are normal to the plane of the flooring 16 nailed on top of the joists.

The joists 14 are connected together and spaced the proper distance by means of joist spacer and support members 15.

With referenceto Figs. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the joist spacer and support member 15 is formed of two strips: outer strip 20 and inner strip 21. The strips are each formed of a narrow, fiat, thin, elongated, rigid material such as steel strip, or strap metal or the like.

The opposite ends of the outer strip 20 are bent at right angles to the plane of the strip 20 to form parallel end flanges 22. Likewise, the opposite ends of the inner strip 21 are similarly bent to form inner flanges 23 parallel to and spaced from the outer flanges 22. The two strips are longitudinally aligned and are secured together in face to face contact by means of conventional spot welds at 24 or by any other conventional mechanical fastening means, such as rivets or the like.

Nail holes 28 and 29 are provided in the flanges 22 and 23 respectively. Likewise, nail holes 30 may be provided in the outer strip portion 31 which is arranged between the spaced flanges 22 and 23.

In operation, the carpenter lays a pair of joists next to one another and simply slips the member 15 over the pair of joists so that the flanges 22 and 23 embrace a joist at each end of the member. The outer strip portion 31 rests against the upper edge of the joist. Then, the carpenter nails the joist spacer member to the joists by inserting nails through the openings 28, 29, and 30. In this manner, by slipping a number of these joist spacers over a pair of joists, that pair of joists are arranged parallel to each other and the proper distance apart since the flanges 22 and 23 are arranged a distance apart equal to the thickness of the joist wood member and the inner flanges 23 are arranged apart a distance to equal the desired distance between the pair of joists. This operation is completed by adding more joists and more joist spacers until the entire joist construction is completed in order to complete the floor panel.

With this construction, the spacing between the joists is completely unobstructed so that the conventional hot air duct work 35 and plumbing pipes 36 may be inserted into the spacing and thus will be completely concealed (see Fig. 1).

In the case of the stud walls, wherein the studs are designated as 39, the joist spacer 15a, shown in Fig. 4, is identical with the joist spacer 15 of Fig. 2, with the exception that the inner and outer flanges 22a and 23a, respectively, while arranged in a plane normal to the .plane of the strips forming the connector 15a, are arranged at an angle relative to the length of the strips so that the connector 15a is arranged at an angle to the vertical, but the flanges 22a and 23a are arranged vertically to embrace the vertical studs.

Fig. illustrates a modification, wherein the outer strip 40 is greatly elongated, and a number of inner strips 41 are provided. The inner strips are each provided with end flanges 43 similar to those designated as 23 in Fig. 2. -In this case, however, the adjacent flanges 43 are spaced apart the thickness of the wood member which ,is to-be fitted between them and are arranged to embrace a wood joist or stud between them. In this case, the outer strip portions 44 between the flanges 43 rest against the ends of the joist or stud and nails may be driven through holes 45 in this portion 44. Likewise, openings 46 are provided in the flanges 43 for the purposes of nailing.

The flanges 43 may be arranged at right angles to the length of the inner and outer strips or in the alternative may be arranged angularly to this length so that the joist spacer may be secured to a stud wall at an angle to the horizontal but with the studs arranged vertically.

Likewise, where the strips are made up in long lengths, the strips may be severed along lines 48 passing through the center of the outer strip portion 44 to shorten the strip to any desired length of wall.

In Fig. 6, a modification of the joist support is illustrated. Here, instead of an opening 30 being provided for nails to pass through the outer strip portion 31, the outer strip portion 31 instead is formed with integral, struck-out spikes 50 arranged to pierce and enter into the end of the stud or joist. Thus, in the use of this device, the carpenter instead of loosely laying the joist support on top of the stud or joist, pounds them on top of the joist or stud edge so that the spikes enter and thus secure the joist support at that point.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following attached claims. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoing description be read as being merely illustrative of an operative embodiment of this invention and not in a strictly limiting sense.

I now claim:

1. A joist spacer and support for use in the construction of flat building panels formed of a plurality of elongated structural members arranged parallel to and spaced equidistantly from one another and arranged in the same plane, comprising a pair of elongated, thin, flat, rigid strips secured to one another in face to face contact and in longitudinal alignment and thus, forming an inner strip and an outer strip, the opposite ends of the inner strip being bent into a plane normal to the plane of the strip to form attachment flanges, spaced apart a distance equal to the desired distance between the structural members, and the ends of the outer strip being extended beyond the lines of bend at each end of the inner strip, and wherein at least a second inner strip is also secured to the outer strip in face to face contact and in longitudinal alignment therewith, said second inner strip likewise being provided with bent ends forming flanges, with the adjacent flanges of the two inner strips being spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of one of said structural members.

2. A joist spacer and support for use in the construction of flat building panels formed of a plurality of elongated structural members arranged parallel to and spaced equidistantly from one another and arranged in the same plane, comprising a thin, flat, elongated, rigid outer strip and a plurality of thin, flat, elongated, rigid, inner strips of substantially the same width as the outer strip, the inner strips each being secured in face to face contact and in longitudinal alignment with one face of the outer strips; the opposite ends of each inner strip being bent into a plane normal to the plane of the strips to form attachment flanges, with the two attachment flanges formed on each inner strip being spaced apart a distance equal to the desired distance between the structural members, and with adjacent flanges of each pair of adjacent inner strips being spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of one of said structural members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 968,586 Morgan Aug. 30, 1910 1,157,426 Scott Oct. 19, 1915 1,268,058 Russell May 28, 1918 1,742,045 Menes Dec. 31, 1929 1,782,034 Gent Nov. 18, 1930 1,867,449 Eckett July 12, 1932 2,302,194 Dayton Nov. 17, 1942 2,374,623 Sale Apr. 24, 1945 2,442,726 Gstalder June 1, 1948 2.580.334 Vanderveld Dec. 25. 1951 

